Robinson Tejeda Rumors

The Diamondbacks signed center fielder Tyler Graham Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. The Giants recently released Graham, who has a .297/.353/.376 batting line in four Triple-A seasons.

The Indians announced that they released right-hander Robinson Tejeda. Tejeda, 30, appeared in one Triple-A game for Cleveland after signing a minor league deal with the team this offseason. The 6'2" Tejada owns a 4.42 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9 in seven MLB seasons.

MLB.com's beat reporters have been digging up details on some recent minor league deals. Here are the latest updates:

Robinson Tejeda will earn $825K if he makes the Indians' roster and can earn $50K for pitching in 50 games, 55 games, 60 games and 65 games, Jordan Bastian tweets. Tejeda would earn a $100K bonus for pitching in 70 games.

The Indians signed right-handed reliever Robinson Tejeda to a minor league deal with a spring training invite, reports MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. The 29-year-old entered the 2011 season as the Royals' setup man, but quickly lost the job partly due to a shoulder injury. He was removed from the team's 40-man roster in June and elected free agency in October.

When healthy Tejeda spent most of the 2011 season at Triple-A, posting a 3.80 ERA, 8.6 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, and 1.60 HR/9 in 45 relief innings. Tejeda did some solid work for the Royals at times in 2009-10, with a 9.6 K/9 and an average fastball around 94 miles per hour. His heater was down to 90.2 in 2011, probably in relation to his injury. The Indians' press release says he finished the season healthy at Omaha.

Robinson Tejeda has elected to become a free agent, reports Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link). The right-hander was designated for assignment by the Royals in May and spent the rest of the season pitching for Triple-A Omaha.

In seven Major League seasons with the Phillies, Rangers and Royals, Tejeda has a career ERA of 4.42 in 186 games (53 of them starts). Tejeda, 29, has averaged 7.6 K/9 in his career but has also had control problems, walking five batters per nine innings. Given his decent lifetime numbers and solid minor league campaign for Omaha this year, Tejeda is a likely candidate for a minor league deal from a club in search of bullpen help.

Tejeda earned $1.55MM in 2011 after signing an arbitration-avoiding one-year contract with the Royals in the offseason. The righty still has one year of arbitration eligibility remaining.

Dallas McPherson cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, according to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (on Twitter). The White Soxdesignated the infielder for assignment Monday after he collected a pair of singles in 15 plate appearances over the course of 11 games. The 30-year-old former top prospect had a characteristically strong .305/.366/.458 line in Triple-A Charlotte before getting the call to the Majors.

The Rockies have traded right-hander Felipe Paulino to the Royals for cash considerations, according to the Rockies' official Twitter page. In a corresponding move, Kansas City designated right-handed pitcher Robinson Tejeda for assignment.

In 14.2 innings this season, Paulino has a 7.36 ERA with 8.6 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, and 14.1 H/9. The fireballer owns a 5.93 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 65 career games – 34 of them starts.

Meanwhile, Tejeda hasn't seen a great deal of action in 2011, allowing five runs in 7.1 innings of work. For his big league career, the 29-year-old has a 4.42 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9. While he's worked mostly out of the bullpen, he did make six starts for the Royals in 2009. His $1.55MM salary for '11 is likely to dissuade teams from picking him up.

Teams and players exchange arbitration figures tomorrow if they haven't already come to terms for 2011. That means plenty of players will likely avoid arbitration today. We'll keep track of them all right here and with our Arbitration Tracker; the latest updates are at the top of this post:

The Giants are betting that other teams don't value Juan Uribe as highly as they do, says CSNBayArea.com's Mychael Urban, which is why the club offered the infielder (a Type B free agent) arbitration. San Francisco thinks Uribe won't be able to find a multi-year deal elsewhere and will thus accept arbitration or re-sign for a $5MM, one-year contract. Even if Uribe does leave for another club, at least the Giants would get a draft pick in compensation.

In his look at the offseason needs of the AL Central clubs, The Kansas City Star's Bob Dutton names Detroit prospects Andy Oliver and Jacob Turner, Minnesota outfield prospects Joe Benson, Aaron Hicks and Ben Revere, and Kansas City's Robinson Tejeda and Alex Gordon as young players within the division who could be dealt. (Oliver and Turner only in "major trade talks" since "neither will be cheap.") Dutton adds that Grady Sizemore probably won't be dealt in the winter but "interest should quickly escalate" if Sizemore gets off to a healthy and productive start in 2011.

On this date two years ago, the Mariners named former Brewers vice president Jack Zduriencik as their new general manager. His defense-heavy approach resulted in a 24 win increase in his first season at the helm, though team scoring dropped by 31 runs. The Mariners won just 61 games and scored a mere 513 runs in 2010, the fewest by any team in the DH era. Unsurprisingly, there's already talk that Jack Z. is on the hot seat.

These links don't have to worry about being on the hot seat, they've made this week's edition of BBWI…